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I have been using my edge pro for a little while now. I'm probably on my 15th knife or so. I feel like I'm getting decent at it, but it seems like I'm consistently having problems at the heel of my blades. I'll give an example by describing the knife I just did.

I was practicing on an old, cheap folding knife. I set the angle to 20 degrees using an angle cube. (I was starting with the factory edge and I have NO idea what angle it was at as this is a very cheap knife). I marked the edge with a sharpie. As I was sharpening at very low grit, it seemed like the sharpie disappeared from the belly of the knife LONG before it disappeared from the heel and tip (I have observed this on many sharpenings). I continued to make full passes on the knife. By the time the sharpie disappeared from the heel and tip, WAY more steel had been removed from the heel than the belly. It's to the point where the blade shape even looks a little different than it did before I started (more pronounced curve at the heel). And it took a LONG time to remove all the sharpie from heel to tip, like 1.5 hours of sharpening or so, and this is a very cheap folder with 440 steel. This has happened to me multiple times and it is always while practicing on folders. This is all using a 120 grit congress stone.

Strangely, I have not had this problem on my good chef's knives. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that the blade is straighter or not, as the folders tend to have quite a bit more of a curve. Has anyone else experienced this? As I said, this is happening mostly on my practice knives, but I really want to figure out what I'm doing wrong before I cause problems with my more expensive cooking knives.

Thanks in advance!

snipes

Post subject: Re: Consistently having problems at heel of knife

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:04 pm

Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:01 pmPosts: 586Location: ATL

The first thing that comes to mind is wondering if the heel is parallel to the blade table both horizontally and vertically. I can't say I've ever noticed this phenomenon, but I don't ever put a marker down the entire length of the edge either.

SteveG

Post subject: Re: Consistently having problems at heel of knife

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 8:26 pm

Forum Moderator

Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:00 pmPosts: 3002

Does the knife(s) in question have a slight recurve at the heel section? This could account for not hitting the heel. The tip issue, assuming you've got the knife lined up correctly and are consistent in your positioning, could just be how it was ground before you started on the EP. I've had hunting knives where the bevel angles were quite different on the heel, middle, tip sections of the blade. It can take a while to grind the entire bevel to the consistent angle of the EP device versus however the knife was ground at the factory or later by the owner(s).

noneck180

Post subject: Re: Consistently having problems at heel of knife

Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 11:14 pm

Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 12:17 amPosts: 143

Usually most knives have thicker heels, just how there ground. In most cases the angles are not the same as the rest of the blade either. You will have to grind it down to the same angle. Another problem un-related , is how you are placing your knife on the E.P. You can't put the knife on the choil area or behind the riccasso of the blade. Then proceed to slide the knife off to sharpen the rest of the blades length. This is a common mistake made with longer knives..

jvaldezhd28

Post subject: Re: Consistently having problems at heel of knife

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:54 pm

Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2014 4:55 pmPosts: 3

I am also haveing alot of trouble with what seems like the stone not touching the heel or the tip of the knife. I've held my knife to hard and so long as not to move it around while sharpening my index finger seemed numb all the next day. Itseems to me the heel and the tip both have to be parallel to the blade table but If you keep switching. Then you cannot get a mirror polish. Also after going through all the grits and not being happy with the Polish. I've tryed ti go back same angle with the lowet grits to try to polish it back out and it seems like the stone Dident take any more metal off.

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